Tax dollars go to non-existant districts

Six Wisconsin House districts that don’t exist are listed as getting over $2 million from the federal stimulus package. The state has eight House districts. But the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity said a phantom Ninth Congressional District got stimulus money and so did the 10th, 14th, 39th, and 55th Districts. Even a district labeled double-zero was said to get stimulus cash.

Government agencies have been criticized for over-stating jobs that were claimed to be saved-or-created. Wausau House Democrat David Obey, who helped create the package as the chair of the Appropriations Committee, called the inaccuracies “outrageous.” He said the administration should work night-and-day to correct “ludicrous” mistakes. Obey said credibility counts in government, and mistakes like this undermine it.

The White House said the mistakes were caused by human errors, and they should not detract from the effort to be open about where the stimulus money is going.